The Duck-Rabbit Brown Ale

The Duck-Rabbit craft brewery is a specialist in brewing dark beers, many of them highly rated. This is one of their easier-to-find beers in any store that sells craft brews.

Date: 3/24/10 at 10pm
Beer: Duck-Rabbit Brown Ale
Abv: 5.6%
From: Bottle
Vessel: Pilsner


Pours a deep copper, nose is surprisingly sweet and chocolate at first. Initial taste is a mix of nutty caramel, chocolate, and a hint of floral. Very palatable and the carbonation keeps it very light on the tongue. A moderate sense of hops and bitterness is what you'll find in the aftertaste, making you crave for more. A very good session brown ale.

3/5

Kona Fire Rock & Longboard

I was at Roy's in Baltimore recently (they have top-quality Hawaiian fusion cuisine) and was curious what their beer selection was. Kona Brewing Company was started in 1995 in Kailua, Hawaii, and so it seemed a perfect fit for Roy's to be carrying their beer.

I started off with Fire Rock Pale Ale and then moved to their flagship beer, Longboard Island Lager. Both tastings had the same environment:

Date: 1/15/10 9:00pm
Beer: Kona Fire Rock Pale Ale & Kona Longboard Island Lager
Abv: 5.9% and 4.6%, respectively
From: Bottle
Vessel: Pilsner

Fire Rock pours a medium copper with a light tan head. Initial nose is a perfect balance of hops and citrus, really bringing out that island flavor. Very crisp, light, and refreshing. As a fan of hops, I enjoyed the fact that this had a mildly bitter aftertaste on the tongue. It quickly makes you crave for another sip. I had this paired with swordfish and thought they worked very well together.

3.5/5





Longboard, despite being their flagship brew and the top award-winner for their brewery, didn't impress me as much. It pours a yellowish-amber with a near white head. Tongue is very smooth, but only a mild hint of hops and spice. Probably a better beer to enjoy during a hot summer day than in a restaurant or paired with any food.

1.5/5

About Isaac

About me: I'm just getting into the craft brewing scene. I absolutely love it, for many reasons. The variation, flavors, history, food pairing... not to mention the community spirit within the craft brewing industry where folks share tips, tricks, and recipes with their so-called competitors. Its really something to be seen (and experienced). I'm looking to begin home brewing soon and will be sure to post about my experiences.

About my posts: My goal is to post about beers that are new to me. While they might not all be as rare or "craft" as the beers Dave posts about, hopefully they are outside of the mainstream market enough to make the posts somewhat interesting to read. Cheers!

Pics and Recipe from Bell's Two-Hearted Ale Clone Brew Day

I've been wanting to make a citrus IPA for some time. Bell's 2HA is among the best I've had in this style...perfect balance of citrus/malt and enough hops to make even me satisfied.

After some research I came up with a blend of the different clone recipes I have found. Here it is.

Yes, im still extract brewing. Too tought to move to all-grain at this point given the space in my apartment and my storage capacity. It's still fun NTL!

Bell's Two Hearted Ale Clone

8lbs 2 row pale liquid malt extract
1 lb carmal malt (grains)
4 oz centennial hops
1 oz cascade hops
Wyeast 1056 (American Ale)

1. Steep grains @ 155-160 F for 35 mins in 3 qts water
2. Add grain tea to 3 gal water and bring to boil

Boil Time:60 mins

4lbs LME @ 60
.5 oz centennial @ 60
.5 oz centennial @ 30
.75 oz centennial @ 20
.5 oz cascade @ 20
4lbs LME @ 15
.5 oz centennial @ 10
.5 oz centennial @ 5
.25 oz centennial @ flameout

pitch yeast at 65-75F

primary: 8 days
dry hop: 8 days

yield: 4.5-5 gal

....my original gravity was: 1.060. hoping for final of 1.015 or less.

Guest Posts

A few guest reviews will pop up soon. Isaac will be reviewing an offering from Kona Brewing Company (maybe 2?). Also, expect something from Ryan in the near future as well.

Southern Tier Iniquity Black Ale Review

One of Southern Tier's big beers, iniquity is "the antithesis of unearthly" (unearthly is their DIPA).




Date: 2/23/10 9:45pm
Beer: Souther Tier Iniquity Black Ale
Abv: 9%
From: 22oz Bottle
Vessel: Snifter
Temp: 48f

Iniquity pours a very rich deep brown (almost black) with a moderate tan head. Nose is full of wonderful aromas, first of chocolate but gives way to scents of coffee and even a hint of hops! Mouthfeel is somewhat thick and quite oily. Flavors of milk chocolate (a nice break from the dark choco taste of many stouts) just dominate this beer and you can even pick out a bit of vanilla at the end. The fact that this beer is moderately hopped is quite clear and makes for a beautiful contrast with the heavier flavors here. Maybe a VERY subtle toastiness lingers on the tongue, but not much as this is quite a clean finisher.

I had to remind myself when tasting this that it is an ALE. The color and mouthfeel alone are more indicative of a stout but you'd be mistaken to characterize this as such. The most intriguing aspect of this offering is the presence of hops (flavoring, aroma, but no bittering). According to the bottle both cascade and chinook are used. Not only is Iniquity hop backed after the boil, but it is also dry hopped after fermentation. These two methods of employing hops in the brewing process allow for flavor and aroma but do not impart bitterness (which would ruin this beer in my opinion). That is done almost entirely by using hops during the boil, which ST must do conservatively for Iniquity. I must say that this is one of the most enjoyable tasting experiences of the last year. Iniquity Black Ale will most definitely become a staple in my cellar.

4.5/5

Lagunitas "Censored" Review

Lagunitas makes some veeeeryyy interesting brews. I'm a fan of their IPA's, but tonight we try a red/copper ale.


Date: 1/29/10 8:45pm
Beer: Lagunitas Censored (Kronik) Rich Copper Ale
Abv: 5.9%
From: Bottle
Vessel: Snifter
Temp: 43f


Pours a very true copper color (obvious) with minimum tan head. Nose is slight malt with sweet hints of cinnamon and caramel. Tongue is decently hoppy, again with some malt, caramel, and coffee falvors. Mostly subtle stuff here, but though it does not boast a complex flavor profile, it's quite refreshing. Leaves a nice tart aftertaste. Nothing worth jumping in the car and picking up right this second, but surely should be part of your next bulk craft brew purchase at the local specialty store!

3/5